Chevy Chase has had a successful but messy and turbulent career in comedy. While everything he’s ever touched was absolutely hilarious, behind closed doors, rumors have been circulating for decades about how difficult he’s been to work with. Nowadays, some networks, directors, producers, and fellow actors refuse to work with him.
Here are a few random things about Chevy Chase that fans probably didn’t know!
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1. He almost tried to have Adam Sandler fired from *Saturday Night Live*.
“The first time I saw Adam Sandler on there as Opera Man, I almost told Lorne to fire the guy. It was just the worst thing I’d ever seen. I saw no reason for it to be on a news program,” he told Time .
2. He had his own talk-show, but it was cancelled after a couple of weeks.
The Chevy Chase Show was very short-lived.
Chevy pulled out of the agreement because the network was being uncooperative and inflexible about bringing his vision to life.
He admitted that he’s glad his talk-show didn’t work out.
“I’m so glad it didn’t, then I’d be stuck doing a really successful talk show. When I went in to do the show, I had no desire to have a desk and a band and interview people. What I wanted to do was closer to [Ernie] Kovacs: alone, and using a small group of other characters here and there. And slowly it turned into ‘Well, if we’re going to give you all these billions, we want you to have it this way,'” he told Time .
3. He had some passive aggressive drama on the set of *Saturday Night Live* amongst his colleagues.
“I’m not sure exactly why or how, but [during that episode] suddenly I got into a fight with Bill Murray. I discovered later it was with the instigation of John Belushi,” he explained to Time .
“[John] apparently was a little bit jealous that I had become the standout guy the first year, when John [felt he] deserved to. And he did; John was our ringer.”
“But television doesn’t care too much about ringers who are short and have a beard. Somehow they took to the tall, thin, handsome guy,” he revealed to Time .
4. He created The Weekend Update segment on *Saturday Night Live*.
Chevy’s time on Saturday Night Live wasn’t impressively long.
But in the short period of time he was there, he created one of the most iconic parts of the show that we know as The Weekend Update.
5. He never thought he would have a successful movie career.
In an interview with Washington Post , he admitted that he had always had regrets over leaving SNL , and has constantly thought about asking for his old job back ever since.
But by the time he was invited back, it was to host, as his movie career had taken off in such a big way — something he said he never thought would happen.
6. He had a falling out with the creator of *Community* and some of his castmates including Donald Glover.
Evidently, Chevy was not the easiest person to get along with! Accord to Washington Post , his time on Community was bittersweet.
While fans loved his character and his relationship with the rest of the cast, behind the scenes, things weren’t going as smoothly.
7. He once said that he identifies a lot with his *Community* character, Pierce Hawthorne.
So make of that what you will.
“This is Chevy Chase, or Pierce Hawthorne if you guys like,” he wrote in an Instagram caption.
“I know some of you have written in and said that you love the show, Community, and that’s really nice, and I loved playing Pierce Hawthorne.”
“He wasn’t so different from me, Chevy Chase, and I tried to keep it that way. You know, it was a challenge of sorts to be me .”
8. Despite having confessed that he’s always wanted to return to *SNL*, in 2018 he said that it had the “worst [expletive] humor in the world.”
“I’m amazed that Lorne has gone so low. I had to watch a little of it, and I just couldn’t [expletive] believe it,” he told Washington Post .
“That means a whole generation of [expletive] heads laughs at the worst [expletive] humor in the world. You know what I mean?”
“How could you dare give that generation worse shit than they already have in their lives? It just drives me nuts,” he continued .
“I’d have to say, that after the first two years, it went downhill. Why am I saying that? Because I was in it? I guess. That’s a horrible thing to say,”
9. He regrets being a part of *Community*.
In an interview with EW , Chevy complained that being a part of Community was taxing on him in more ways than one.
He revealed that the hours were “hideous,” called the show “probably the lowest form of television,” and called it a “big mistake.”
10. He thinks that the younger generation should watch *Caddyshack*.
“I think they should see it and enjoy it. It’s hard to denote what you mean by young person, but I think somebody with their wits about them who’s around 17, 18 or 19 probably wouldn’t see it anyway unless they were fans of some kind. But I think that they’d find it funny and they’d get it. I mean, what could be funnier than Billy Murray in a pool picking up a candy bar that everyone thinks is a piece of (feces)? I don’t care how old you are, that’s pretty damn funny,” he told The Know .
11. He is sober.
At 74 years old, Chevy made the decision in an effort to turn his life around and give up alcohol.
As a result, he told Washington Post that he is 40 pounds lighter and ready to get back to work.
